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The Knowles Postcard Collection contains images of notable Kentucky locations, such as Ashland, Keeneland, and Mammoth Cave, as well as county courthouses, farms, schools, and many others.
The Kentucky Room's collections contain Lexington's residential directories going back over 200 years, and are some of the most useful resources for researchers looking for family information, neighborhood histories, and house histories.
The Kentucky Progress Commission was formed in 1928 in order to draw tourism and business to Kentucky. It was formed by the Kentucky Legislature, and was a 12 person board.
Old Homes of the Blue Grass is a photographic review of historic homes in Kentucky’s Blue Grass region.
The Kentucky Rally Songs pamphlet contains 42 songs compiled and printed by the state chapter of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, to be used at the many gatherings and rallies that they organized in the late 19th and ea
In 1917, the Woman’s Club of Central Kentucky hosted a series of speakers giving historical sketches on people and places of local interest.
The Kentucky Almanac was a regional almanac that began printing in 1788, at the office of John Bradford’s Kentucky Gazette in Lexington.
Dunbar High School opened in 1923 at 545 North Upper Street as the only all-black high school in Lexington’s city school system.
The Council of Defense books contain records for Fayette County’s Army soldiers, Navy sailors, Marines, and Army nurses in World War I, and include information regarding the person’s residence, birth place and date, specific units and en
Illustrated Lexington Kentucky contains photographs, demographics, commerce and financial information about Lexington up to 1919.
The Kentucky Postcard collection contains images of well-known sites in Central Kentucky, such as Keeneland, Transylvania University, Ashland, and many others.
Baker & Taylor, Lexington Public Library’s primary vendor for purchasing books, recently shared that it will soon cease operations. This sudden change is impacting thousands of libraries across the country, including ours.
Compiled by Cyrus Parker Jones, a man formerly enslaved by the Parker family, these funeral notices cover 667 funerals of individuals in Lexington, including seven free blacks. The funeral notices cover the years 1806-1886. Jones donated his collection to a trustee of the Lexington Public Library prior to his death in 1887, who then added some notices and donated the collection to the Lexington Public Library in 1900.
The Daily Lexington Atlas ran from late 1847 through early 1849 and was Lexington’s first daily paper, and the first to publish information from the telegraph lines. It is described by William Perrin in his 1882 History of Fayette County Kentucky as a “red-hot Whig and fiery southern” publication. It contains some articles and editorials that are overtly racist, as the editors favored slavery, then emancipation only if the freed African Americans were immediately sent to Liberia. It covers the 1848 presidential election and the local election for Kentucky Governor. Perrin claims the paper had an extensive subscriber list, but had to “give up the ghost after several months disastrous experience” due to the expense of the paper.
The Elmer L. Foote Collection is a group of 190 lantern slides. They were created by Elmer L. Foote, a Cincinnati photographer and library staff member whose pictures appeared in the Cincinnati Commercial Tribune.
Letters to and from Father William T. Punch (1874-1933). Father Punch was instrumental in building the 3rd St. Peter Catholic Church on Barr Street in Lexington, KY.
The 1906-07 Lexington cross directory contains residential and business information for the city, arranged both alphabetically and by street, with a business listing by category. It also contains city officials and departments, and basic historical and landmark information. The advertising section is printed on yellow paper.
The city report covers the outline of a citizen participation work plan and its connection with neighborhood groups, as well as the results of those meetings and community concerns that took place throughout 1969. It contains neighborhood maps, images of news articles, and and project methodology.
This half of the record book contains burial records for St. Paul Catholic Church parishioners.
This letter collection was collected by Judge Kenneth Lyons. The earliest date of the letters is 1862, from Bourbon and Nicholas Counties, Kentucky. Some letters are fragments.
The diary (ca. 1899) of Katherine Pettit, details her settlement work for the Kentucky Confederation of Women's Clubs, made yearly trips to Hazard during this period and was a central figure in establishing the Hindman (Kentucky) Settlement School in 1902. Activities described here include teaching, reading, cooking, and hygiene. The diary also includes daily entries (August 3-September 13) detailing Pettit's travel from Lexington and Hazard with fellow settlement workers, her encounters with Hazard and mountain families, and the general scope of her work. Also includes a manuscript map of her camp.
The Kentucky Gazette was the first paper established west of the Allegheny Mountains. The frontier paper focused on East Coast and International news, though some local announcements can be found. Later, the paper focused on disseminating opinions on politics and issues of concern on the frontier. When political parties emerged, the paper developed a Democratic (conservative at the time) bent.